


A College Try

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Small Problems with "Big" Answers [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coloring Books, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 23:04:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17755172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Tony wants to understand why Tim regresses. Tim helps him see what it's like.





	A College Try

"I don't know, Tim, I'm not sure this is gonna work," Tony said skeptically from his bed.

"Tony, you're the one who wanted to try this, okay? Just give it a chance." Tim stuck his pacifier in his mouth and colored with his coloring book.

"I mean, okay, but I didn't think it would just be us coloring stuff for an hour, or whatever," Tony sighed.

"Tony, please. Give it a shot."

Tony sighed and nodded to appease Tim, coloring a print-out coloring page he had found online. He frowned in consternation, trying to sense any sort of change in his feelings, his stress level, whatever. But nothing was happening. "I feel stupid," Tony said, shaking his head. "This isn't working, Tim. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this."

Tim looked like a kicked puppy, and Tony was quick to try damage control. "Look, it doesn't mean you can't do this when I'm around. I can still take care of you when you need or want that, but..."

"It's not stupid," Tim said, words starting to lisp together.

"What? No, of course it's not!" Tony said.

"You said," Tim accused.

Tony ran back over his words, and sighed. "I didn't mean  _this_  was stupid, Tim, I just meant..." he paused. There was no positive spin he could put on those words to help Tim. "Look, maybe coloring just isn't something that will help me regress. I do want to try this. I want to know why you enjoy it so much. But that's just not one of the ways that works for me."

Tim looked about ready to cry and Tony was internally panicking. He wanted this to work out, he really did, but this was one situation where he didn't know how to act. Tim shook his head and turned towards the wall and Tony felt his heart sink. Was Tim even going to talk to him after this? "Last resort," Tim said, turning back around with a fuzzy lion. "Lion makes everything better."

Tony felt frozen in place. Tim never let  _anyone_  touch Lion, for fear of them hurting the poor stuffed animal. Tony took it gingerly and nodded. "We'll see if he helps," Tony said, nodding.

Tim scooted over on his bed and Tony took that as invitation to climb on. "So, what are you coloring?"

"It's a horse," Tim said, glancing at Tony.

"Well, yeah, but is there anything special about it? You always have such good stories, I figured you'd  _love_  to create stories around the drawings you do," Tony prodded.

Tim's ears turned pink. "You'll think it's stupid..."

"No I won't!" Tony said, holding a hand to his chest. "You offend me, good sir! I love hearing your ideas!"

Tim grinned for a split second, and Tony felt something in him ease at that. "I'm thinking the horse can change color whenever he wants," he said.

"Oh, so that's why he's rainbow?" Tony asked with interest.

"Mhm," Tim said, nodding. "I'm using all the colors to show that he can be any color he wants to be."

Tony nodded along. He was hugging Lion in his arms as he watched Tim color. "It looks pretty cool, Tim," he said.

Tim grinned at him. "Thanks. I work really hard on all my drawings."

Tony was suddenly struck with an idea. "Do you want to work on a color page together? I have tons, so you don't have to give up your coloring book if you don't want to."

Tim's eyes lit up. "Yeah! That'd be cool!"

Tony went over to his bed and grabbed a couple different sheets at random, before climbing back on Tim's bed. "You can choose whichever one you want, I don't really care what we color."

Tim nodded and looked at the different options, before picking out a dragon flying around a castle. "Let's do this one!"

"All right!" Tony said, feeling a sliver of excitement run through him. Tim's energy was contagious!

"You can color the dragon, I'll color the castle!" Tim said, passing Tony the box of crayons.

Tony nodded and looked through the colors. He chose a purple and a pink and got to work. "The dragon's gonna have purple spots on it," Tony said decisively. "Because I said so."

"Cool!" Tim laughed. "The castle's gonna be made of gold, and it's gonna be the dragon's hoard!"

Tony nodded and together they worked on the picture. About halfway through, Tony realized he was still holding Lion. "Hey, Tim? Do you want Lion back?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, no, it's okay. You won't hurt him by coloring with crayons," Tim said with a little wave.

"You're sure? I know he's important to you..." Tony trailed off.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tim said, smiling at Tony. "I trust you more than you give me credit for."

Tony was touched by that, and he grinned as they continued to color, holding Lion a little closer to his chest. He swung his legs a little behind him when he shifted onto his stomach, and he noticed that Tim was more smiley. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Tim said with a little giggle.

"What?" Tony asked with a whine.

"I think you're little," Tim said, glancing up at Tony before continuing to color in the grass.

Tony did an internal inspection and was surprised when he felt significantly more relaxed and almost...younger, in a way. "Oh," he said. He had not been expecting that.

"Yeah," Tim said with a grin. "Do you want to maybe play with some of the toys I keep under my bed? We can't take them outside the dorm, but we can play in here all we want!"

"Sure!" Tony agreed.

Tim got off his bed and Tony followed him, watching as Tim pulled out a plastic box with a snap-on lid that Tony had assumed he used to hold snacks. But when Tim opened it up, Tony was surprised to see toy cars, trains, airplanes, and a board game or two. "Wow! You like planes, trains, and automobiles, huh?"

Laughing, Tim shook his head. "Really? You never stop making movie references, do you?"

"Nope," Tony said with a grin, passing Lion back to Tim. "What should we play with first?"


End file.
